This week saw the end of both Ted Cruz’s and John Kasich’s presidential campaigns, as well as the death of modern conservatism — killed off by a guy who bears more than a passing resemblance to an Oompa Loompa.
Well, he did it. Whatever else can be said about Donald Trump (and that’s plenty), he certainly lived up to his name. To “trump,” according to the American Oxford Dictionary, is to “beat someone (or something) by doing or saying something better.” There’s no doubt Trump did that. He proved better at rousing the rabble than the rest of the Republican presidential field.
Image via Donkey Hotey @ Flickr.
Let’s be honest. We all laughed when Trump rode the “down” escalator into history to declare his candidacy for president. Now that moment seems like a metaphor for the rapid decline of contemporary conservatism, with Trump’s ascendancy as a candidate.
[fve]https://youtu.be/x_dur0DomVk[/fve]
We all knew, just knew, that this would be worth a few laughs. Right-wing pundits like NY Times Ross Douthat predicted again and again that would never be the nominee.
Trump won't be the nominee, but Chait is underestimating the craziness that would ensure if he were: https://t.co/ZzZN7J8Zqy
— Ross Douthat (@DouthatNYT) December 2, 2015
Spoiler: Trump is not going to be the Republican nominee for president.
— Ross Douthat (@DouthatNYT) December 16, 2015
Once again: Trump is a really significant political force, but he's not going to be the GOP nominee: https://t.co/umhCizjVR3
— Ross Douthat (@DouthatNYT) December 18, 2015
Trump polish his “brand,” boost his name recognition for another season of “Celebrity Apprentice,” and bow out before things got real. After all, Republicans had an incredibly “deep bench” for the 2016 presidential election. Out of 17 candidates, including Trump, the other 16 included four current governors (Kasich, Christie, Jindal, and Walker), five former governors (Bush, Gilmore, Huckabee, Pataki, and Perry), four sitting US senators (Cruz, Rubio, Paul, and Graham), and one former Senator (Santorum). Surely of them, most likely Jeb Bush, would rise from the pack.
No way would the GOP end up with a bankruptcy-prone reality TV star with a awful spray tan and an absurd combover as its nominee and de facto leader.
But the “deep bench” was decimated, and then there were three where there had been 17. Then came the Indiana primary. Suddenly Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Gov. John Kasich (R-Ohio) were finished. Trump was the last candidate standing, and the presumptive nominee.
[fve]http://youtu.be/b17RB91N4YY[/fve]
Conservatives began tearing their hair and rending their garments almost immediately.
- In his New York Times column, Douthat announced the death of conservatism.
- Columnist George Will headlined his latest Washington Post column, “If Trump is nominated, the GOP must keep him out of the White House.”
- The Bush family is none too pleased. A spokesman for Dubya said the former president “does not plan to participate in or comment on” the 2016 presidential race. Poppy Bush is keeping mum, too, but former First Lady Laura Bush
- MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough said he won’t vote for Trump until he basically repudiates everything he said to win the GOP nomination.
- Scarborough lost it, however, when guest Rob Reiner suggested that a lot of Trump supporters are racist.
- Glenn Beck, however, came to terms with Trump as the new orange face of the Republican party, admitting “that makes us pretty racist.” “Hillary is going to win,” he added. “You will never again elect another GOP person to high office ever again!” Predictably, Beck wept.
- “Goodbye, Republican Party,” Blaze blogger Matt Welsh wrote. “Good riddance. Your wounds are self-inflicted anyway.”
- Radio host Steve Deace broke up with the GOP, filing the paperwork to renounce his party registration. On his radio program, Deace said the US is like a “petulant brat” who is “crying out to be spanked” by God.
- Concerned Women For America president Penny Nance said on Brietbart news radio that she was “broken-hearted for the direction of our country” but that “we’ve go to come together” to stop Hillary Clinton, apparently even if that means electing Trump.
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLYgIF86rlNXGOZE6uXvNDb3j8-YJ7qYI0&w=640]
Some took their mourning and rage to Twitter. Some even threatened to vote for Clinton.
the GOP is going to nominate for President a guy who reads the National Enquirer and thinks it's on the level. I'm with her.
— Mark Salter (@MarkSalter55) May 3, 2016
Thank you to the entire Republican field for a hard fought race. The Party is better for your efforts.
— GOP (@GOP) May 4, 2016
— Ben Howe (@BenHowe) May 3, 2016
— Lachlan Markay (@lachlan) May 4, 2016
Hillary Is Preferable To Trump Just Like Malaria Is Preferable To Ebola
https://t.co/ywJ53BIjCU— Jamie Weinstein (@Jamie_Weinstein) May 4, 2016
If we nominate Trump, we will get destroyed.......and we will deserve it.
— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) May 3, 2016
😂 "@GOP: Thank you to the entire Republican field for a hard fought race. The Party is better for your efforts.” pic.twitter.com/tfDWZ4rbuh
— Luckyiam GO! (@LuckyovLegends) May 4, 2016
Thank you to the entire Republican field for a hard fought race. The Party is better for your efforts.
— GOP (@GOP) May 4, 2016
@GOP * pic.twitter.com/KOZp4xNmIA
— Presumptive Moose (@CrunchyMoose) May 4, 2016
.@GOP pic.twitter.com/KPoPa5x0CJ
— Carl Gustav (@CaptYonah) May 5, 2016
😂 "@GOP: Thank you to the entire Republican field for a hard fought race. The Party is better for your efforts.” pic.twitter.com/tfDWZ4rbuh
— Luckyiam GO! (@LuckyovLegends) May 4, 2016
Not all were distraught. Some, including the GOP’s biggest grifters, were thrilled.
- Sarah Palin assaulted the English language again, to urge “smart Democrats” to unite behind Trump.
- Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa), isn’t ready to endorse Trump, but thanked him for “borrowing” his immigration policy and offered to “help” Trump on the issue.
- Pat Buchanan nearly dislocated his shoulder patting himself on the back for paving the way for Trump to keep America’s white “ethnic core” intact.
- During an interview on Fox News, Ben Carson said Trump could let Ted Cruz “prosecute Hillary” as attorney general, and then appoint him to the Supreme Court.
- Former Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal endorsed Trump, some months after he denounced Trump as a narcissistic, dangerous, unstable, “egomaniacal madman” who was lying about his conservative and Christian beliefs. So much for not being the “stupid party.”
- Radio Michael Savage echoed Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech: “I have a dream, I have a real dream, that Donald Trump wins. Oh, do I have a dream. I have a dream that when Donald Trump wins, the new Justice Department goes after the ACLU. I have a dream that all the Marvins and the Glorias and all their ill-gotten gains will be seized by the government and they will either run for the hills or be thrown in the slammer. I have a dream that when Donald Trump becomes president, George Soros finds that there’s not a country on earth that he can hide in because he is hated around the world for what he has done to every currency on the planet. I have a dream.”
- Some are already striking out. In Washington, DC, a Muslim woman says she was attacked by a Trump supporter while sitting outside a coffee shop. Video shows a woman yelling in the victim’s face and then returning to douse her with a bottom of liquid. “A Caucasian lady walked right past me,” the woman said. “Then as soon as she sat down she started talking about me. Saying ‘F-ing Muslim. Trash, worthless piece of Muslim trash. You all need to go back to where you came from.” “She says if Donald Trump wins the nomination I’m going to vote for him so he can send all of you all back to where you came from,” she told WJLA.
- Artist Illma Gore, whose nude portrait of Trump went viral, told NBC she was attacked by a Trump supporter. Gore was walking to an art supply store in Los Angeles when she claims she was punched in the face by a man who jumped out of his car and yelled “Trump 2016” before jumping back in and driving away.
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLYgIF86rlNXEJfKchPFegQl9z0q2M4fIX&w=640]
How did this happen? How did Republicans come to nominate a man who, according to a new CNN poll, is viewed unfavorably by 64 percent of women, 73 percent of nonwhites, 70 percent of voters under 35, 67 percent of college graduates, and 57 percent of moderates — constituencies with whom, four years ago, Republicans hoped to improve?
[fve]https://youtu.be/0ZP-VY5LY4s[/fve]
How did Republicans end up coming this close nominating a racist, sexist, xenophobic conman?
[fve]https://vimeo.com/165392407[/fve]
Easy. Feed your base a steady but slightly watered-down diet of racism, sexism, xenophobia, and con jobs. When a con man comes along offering them undiluted racism, sexism, and xenophobia, they’ll be primed and ready to follow him anywhere.
